“Heads need to roll in the State Department,” Honig said.
Soon after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel last weekend, airlines suspended operations, stranding thousands.
That included some 20,000 Americans, at least 250 of whom are from the Jersey Shore, said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith.
Smith and Duvi Honig, chief executive of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, have been putting pressure on officials in Washington to help get people home.
Honig landed in New York on Friday after he managed to catch a flight to Turkey, where he booked a flight to JFK Airport in New York City.
While in Israel, he, his wife and children had to take cover in bunkers during the fighting.
“All of us were petrified," he said. "We heard explosions around us. The building was shaking because of the explosions."
Hundreds from Jersey Shore stranded in Israel amid a slow and costly evacuation
Smith and Duvi Honig, chief executive of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, have been putting pressure on officials in Washington to help get people home.
“I’ve been very disappointed in the tardiness, the slowness on setting that up,” Smith said. “More than a dozen major countries where a significant number of their citizens are Jewish and at risk sent military aircrafts there."
The U.S. began evacuating its citizens on Friday, though it is not bringing Americans home, but to Europe. Once there, they have to arrange flights to the U.S. and they will be billed for the evacuation.
“I also am disappointed that the administration is talking about that even when somebody gets the flight out, they have to pay it back. They have to sign a promissory note,” Smith said.
If they don’t pay in a year, they are going to be referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution, Smith said.
Smith said following the onset of the conflict, Ocean County families, mostly from Lakewood, Toms River and Jackson, told him the Department of State was unresponsive and that it asked stranded families to try evacuating over land via Jordan and Egypt.
Many of those stuck had traveled to Israel for Sukkot, a Jewish holiday that this year ran from Sept. 29 until Oct. 6, the day before the attack.
Honig was in Israel for the holidays and said recommendations from the U.S. Department of State advised him to evacuate through Jordan and Egypt. He said that shows how out of touch U.S. officials are.
“Heads need to roll in the State Department,” Honig said.
“The State Department held a call telling Congress that there’s nothing to worry about, that 85% of flights were departing Ben Gurion Airport, therefore we don’t have to get involved. That was a blunt lie,” Honig said
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“All the flights were canceled. All Americans were panicking. They didn’t have where to stay. They were sleeping on the floors in the airport. They were stuck in places without security, without shelter, without food, without medicine."
Delta says it is canceling all flights to Tel Aviv through Oct. 31. American Airlines has suspended operations to and from Tel Aviv through Dec. 4. United has also canceled direct flights.
Smith said he is will introduce legislation so that people don’t have to pay for the evacuation, and he hopes every family can get back safe.
“I feel very empathetic. And we need to have their backs right until they are home safely in the United States of America," he said. "This is a war. You do extraordinary things for your citizens during war."